


Lost and found

by Mechanical_Heart



Series: Android's emotions [2]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Drama & Romance, Emotion Chip, I mean some weird android porn with inter-galactic adventure plot, Memory Loss, Other, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Robot/Human Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-07-10 12:44:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6985699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mechanical_Heart/pseuds/Mechanical_Heart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been 623 days since Data had his emotion chip installed. He learned how to operate most of the new feelings by now. However, in rare occasions, it's malfunctioning, providing him emotions that have no clear origin. They are the keys to something he has lost long time ago: the memory records about his lover.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. / 1.01 / trinket

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is a work in progress.  
> It will have 6 chapters in total – each chapter has different plot, set in different surrounding.  
> I divided one chapter into 5 scenes = 30 parts total.  
> I think it's better to post one scene per week, than one chapter per month.
> 
> The content is 80% plot, 20% porn - one scene in each chapter is erotic. Those scenes have titles beginning with the letter "e" ;-)
> 
> Thank you for reading, kudos and comments :) It means a lot.  
> Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Start Trek characters. This is only fanfiction and I gain no profit from it.

  
The story is set in 2373, almost two years after the emotion chip installation.  
But the movie First Contact didn't happen yet (no romance with the Borg Queen).  
  
LOST AND FOUND  
/ chapter 1 /  
  
**The secrets hidden in one valueless trinket**  
  
/ 1.01 / trinket

  
Created as an android with the design of male human body, Data always aspired to belong into human society. He always strove to prove that although his body is mechanical, he is equal a human. And it was hard. Hard, because many people didn't accept him equally. Hard, because as a machine he didn't quite understand the essentials of human existence. Hard, because he did many mistakes and faux pas while imitating others.  
  
He never gave up. Slowly, step by step, he became a little more human, day by day. The most crucial progress in his life happened when he got the emotion chip.  
However, on the contrary, the emotions made everything even harder.  
It made him not only logically perceive his difference, but also feel it.  
  
The first months after the chip installation were the worst. Every new emotion he experienced was extremely strong. It made him cry at the smallest hint of insult, laugh hysterically at the most primitive jokes, tremble with fear at the slightest glimpse of danger. It was problematic and he wished to deactivate the chip many times, it was just causing troubles to him and to everyone around. But if he wanted to become human, he couldn't give up now.  
  
After he experienced the same emotion repeatedly, he learnt how to control it, not to be controlled by it. Now, almost two years after the installation, he could function properly without excessive emotional stress. However, from time to time, when a new unknown emotion flooded his net, it was always overwhelming. The first time was always extreme.  
  
And there were still many feelings he haven't experienced yet. It made him surprised how many emotions were colouring the human life: hundreds variations of joy, affection or... anxiety. And that one mythical emotion he haven't felt yet, although it was rumoured to be the most beautiful and powerful one: the love. The especial romantic love between two living beings.  
  
Before, as an emotionless android, he never took interest in romantic relationships, because he knew he cannot give his partner any emotional understanding and love. The two short “affairs” he had just proved he is incapable being an adequate partner.  
Now, as an android with artificial emotions, he still wasn't sure he can truly love. His emotions were mere impulses from his chip, anyway.  
  
...  
  
It was just one mundane day. A shift on the Bridge while nothing important happens. Now he was in his quarters, sitting in a robotic stiff position by his computer, his eyes scanning quickly the fast-changing monitor, comparing today's research results. He was working even in his free time, as his body never got tired and didn't require sleep.  
  
His cat was running all around his room, playing with some toy. He didn't pay attention to her.  
“Meow!”  
  
The research evaluations were soon completed. He finished them faster than any human could.  
“Meow!” He finally looked down, at the feline who was sitting next to his chair now and requiring  attention. Before his emotion chip, it was only a living creature he fed and took care of. But now his heart felt warm every-time he looked at Spot, he considered her to be “cute”, and that cheerful feeling doubled every-time he stroked her soft fur.  
  
Now Spot was sitting on the floor, wanting a pet. In background was lying the toy she played with, left behind with no further interest. A little metallic bead, about 1 cm diameter.  
  
A sharp pain stabbed his heart, and soon it spread through his whole chest as repetitive ache, as if a knife dug through him. A strong emotion of hurt, a broken heart. His eyes flooded in tears, he took a deep breath to withstand it, but sobs and cries left his mouth instead. The pain repeated with each breath, his body was shaking in moans.  
He tried his best to calm down, but it took him long minutes.  
  
How could one little bead cause such strong reaction? Is his emotion chip broken?  
  
With a sorrowful facial expression, his pale cheeks wet from tears, he took that little trinket in his shaking hand, looking at it closely. The emotions of hurt were still shadowing in his net, but a new one appeared: a yearning nostalgia. As if he was missing the person who wore this accessory. As if he felt abandoned by someone dear to him. He carefully placed that little thing on table... then put Spot on his lap and hugged her closely. For the first time in his life, he truly craved for an embrace, a sympathy.  
  
That bead. Whom does it belong to? How did it get into his quarters? He didn't know the answers.  
  
“A metallic bead, model ISDJ089, dark silver color. The starship replicator is able to materialise 120 different variations of this fashion accessory. Most common use: necklace component, wristband component, hair accessory, other use for decoration.“  
  
It was a mundane, valueless trinket. He could get hundreds same from the replicator anytime.  
And yet it felt like the most precious treasure was sitting on his table. It hurt to even look at it, but within that pain was lingering some undefined gentle and sweet emotion. The nostalgia of long-ago forgotten memories of something indescribably beautiful.


	2. / 1.02 / secrets

Before the emotion chip, Deanna Troi was only his colleague and friend. He never needed her service of a psychotherapist and counsellor.  
After the emotion chip, he was her frequent patient. She helped him to understand the meanings behind the emotions he was feeling. She taught him how to work with them, how to accept them. Without her enduring help, he would give up long time ago and uninstall that problematic chip.

Now he was confused and worried about his chip reactions. It seemed to malfunction, there was no reason to react so strongly because of a little bead. But human emotions were still a mystery to him, he evaluated many of them as highly illogical. When he expected fear, he experienced excitement instead, during a mission. When he expected joy, he was crying instead, when he found Spot alive although he though the cat was dead. Emotions were unpredictable. He should better consult this with Counsellor Troi first.

She knew something is wrong in the first moment she saw him standing in the door. His face expression was blank and his yellow eyes had that empty, lifeless gaze.  
He deactivated his emotion chip again.  
Again, although she told him countless time how important it is to face his emotions, not to run away from them.

“I am aware how important it is to keep my chip activated,” he told her as if he knew her thoughts “but it was a necessary precaution. I suppose I experienced a malfunction of the emotion chip.” He reached out his hand and opened the palm to show the small metallic bead. “I suppose it is abnormal for a mundane object to cause a strong emotional reaction. Do you agree?”

When she saw that trinket, her face looked worried even more.  
“Data,” she sighed with a troubled expression and placed her hand sympathetically on his upper arm “Come in and sit down, please. Tell me, which emotions were you feeling exactly?”  
As a half human, half betazoid, she could sense true emotions from others - however, she never sensed anything from the inorganic android. 

Data sat down in a perfectly upright position. He placed the bead on the table, exactly in the middle. His artificial yellow eyes were watching the Counsellor to sit opposite of him.

“The most outstanding emotion could be described as a broken heart. Others were nostalgia, loneliness, being abandoned, being betrayed,” he listed them robotically as matters of fact. His face expression was blank, apathetic even, and somehow that made him look sad. He tilted his head slightly, now his eye-view focused on the bead in the middle of the table. “The others are hard to describe as they were fleeting. Best accurate words are tenderness, happiness, belonging, love.”  
It sounded illogically and perplexed.

She looked extremely worried. She watched Data, then the bead, then Data again.  
“No, your chip isn’t broken. It was a natural reaction, a very human reaction.”  
Data raised his head, now looking directly into Deanna’s dark eyes. Of course the Counsellor proved to know more about emotions than he could ever guess.

“Sometimes an object or a situation reminds us of a strong experience from the past, which we have forgotten long time ago,” she started slowly, but Data interrupted her:  
“But Counsellor, this does not apply to me. I do not forget. I am an android, I keep all memories saved including every detail. I can remember any situation from my life with perfect clarity.”  
She shook her head. “I am sure that even you have memories you can’t remember. Memories of your early childhood, for example.”  
Oh. She was right. There were few places in his memory data-banks which he couldn’t access. Not many though, but her statement was affirmed.  
“Although I cannot consciously access the disabled memories, my emotion chip can. That object caused me an emotional reaction because it is referring to a disabled memory record of a friend who betrayed me,” stated Data robotically the result of his analysis. Everything made sense now.  
“Intriguing.”

“Yes,” confirmed Deanna. “now, activate your chip again and face that emotion. It doesn’t matter what happened, that’s far in the past now and no one can change it. You don’t need to know anything. Just forgive that person. Thank them for the nice feelings, and forgive them the treason. With forgiveness the pain will disappear soon and you can move on...”

Forgiveness, forgiveness again. He knew that very well. He practised it many times in order to cope with the strong negative feelings from his emotion chip. Many people used him and hurt him, even people he considered friends. Even his own brother! This situation was nothing new. He needs just to practice forgiveness again.

Sitting in a perfectly stiff robotic posture, eye-view set on the Counsellor, he activated his emotion chip.  
In one moment his perfect posture broke down, a pained expression appeared on his face and his hand grabbed the fabric of his uniform in the place of his artificial heart. It hurt horribly.

Before the emotion chip, he found it absolutely bizarre that a human can have a heart broken. It was literally just a muscle and there was no physical damage done to this organ. It was illogical it could even ache. He came to the conclusion the phenomenon “broken heart” is used only as an exaggerative poetic term, used by dramatic writers.  
How much he was mistaken!  
It was probably the worst pain he ever experienced. Such strong emotional ache it hurt even physically. It felt like a dagger was stabbing his heart with each breath.

But fortunately, he didn’t have to bear it alone. Counsellor Troi was with him. He knew he will soon learn more about this emotion and how to tune it down. With forgiveness it will eventually disappear. 

...

A sad face expression, but not a pained one anymore, Data entered the Engineering.

“Hey Data,” greeted him Geordi with a smile. As he approached closer, he noticed the gloomy expression of his android friend. “Your emotion chip is messing with you again? Oh don’t worry, I am sure you can beat it,” he gave him an encouragement. “What’s the issue this time?”

The excesses of his emotion chip were just annoying most of his co-workers. They didn’t really care, some even considered his emotions as fake, not worth any attention.  
But not Geordi.  
Geordi always cared.

“I practice forgiveness again,” started Data, indicating he is struggling with his past again. Then he opened his palm to show the little metallic bead. “I-“  
Geordi’s eyes widened with anger as he saw that trinket. He reached out to grab it and throw it away, but Data’s fast hand dodged it.  
Geordi was furious. “Why the fuck do you still keep that?! That crazy psychopath doesn’t deserve a tiny bit of your forgiveness!!!”  
Data was confused. It usually took a lot to enrage the calm and friendly Geordi La Forge.  
“Geordi, what are you talking about? Do you know the person whom this belonged to?”

Geordi froze, an expression of panic showed on his face for a moment.  
Oh shit.  
He forgot that Data doesn’t remember. “No! It’s just-“

An expression of hurt showed on Data’s face, as he set his gaze down to the floor. He realized it: Counsellor Troi knew it as well. Both Troi and Geordi knew it and they kept it secret from him. It was a dishonest behaviour.

“Oh man, don’t give me that look! Just... throw that thing away and forget everything! It’s not worth a tiny bit of your sympathy! That person gained your full trust, then used you like a sex toy for one night stand, completely fucked up your positronic net and ran away! It almost killed you!!” 

Geordi was shouting something about system breakdown, but Data couldn’t process his words anymore, although he recorded them for further analysis. His emotion chip kept him in a speechless shock.  
It was not a mere friend who had betrayed him. It was his... lover.


	3. / 1.03 / denided

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To avoid your confusion: Data had a male partner.  
> However, because he doesn't remember anything, right now he automatically assumes it was a female.

Lovers - the type of relationship which was nearly sacred for Data. It meant a lot for any human, but for an android it meant even more. Before his emotion chip, he couldn’t provide or perceive any feelings, but just the fact alone, that he is especial to someone, that he is worth of someone’s love, was the biggest goal he could ever achieve. To be worth to participate in an intimate relationship, it meant he was equal the human.

However, the truth was... it has always been only a short illusion. 

No, he wasn’t equal and that’s why all his love affairs ended quickly with fiasco. He was still a machine, absolutely incompetent in love relationships, and although he did his very best to fulfil all his partner’s needs, it never worked out.  
That one night stand with Tasha, when he held her body with the most attentive gentleness, bringing her to an orgasm twice that night. And yet, few hours after, she stated harshly: “It never happened.” She never knew how much that night meant for Data. He was still thinking of her years after her death.  
Or that short relationship with Jenna - he was sure he did absolutely everything expected of a perfect partner (according to romantic literature he studied for this matter), and yet it lasted only few days – she accused him of being forced and artificial and absolutely unemotional. And still, time to time, he remembers again how it feels to have her soft lips pressed to his own. Even without emotions, it was a lovely experience.

No matter how short and meaningless his love affairs were, they were the most precious memories he held in his database.

Now he discovered he had a third lover, an unknown mysterious woman, and he had not a single memory of her. All what was left was a bead she wore as an accessory. Did it matter that it was another short love affair with a bad end? No, it did not. That was expected - he was a machine, an android incapable of love, partner not good enough for any human. 

Still, those memories were treasures and he needs to get them back.

...

Most of his memory records were intact, but there were two whole months missing from more than three years ago. He evaluated with a 99,85% accuracy that this was the interval when his love affair happened.

The first logical step to solve this mystery was clear:  
“Computer, display the log records of Lieutenant Commander Data from star-date 46915.0 to 46975.7,” he said plainly, facing the monitor on his desk.  
The answer was shocking:  
ACCESS DENIDED – red alert written on the screen.  
The feeling of insult mixed with defiance stroke his body. His face frowned.  
He doesn’t have access to his own logs?! Why the top secrecy? Was that really necessary because of a one night stand?  
Something was terribly wrong here.

“Who disabled the access?”  
“The logs are disabled according to Captain Picard's orders.”  
His friends, even his Captain, had no right to keep it secret from him!

It was clear there’s more in the game than just one night sex. She damaged his positronic net and he suffered a system breakdown, afterall. But he needs to know more than the brief information Geordi told him in rage. 

...

19 minutes and 26 seconds later, he was sitting in the conference room, alone with the Captain. Captain Picard didn’t seem thrilled to have this conversation at all, but he was willing to listen to Data’s plea.

“Sir, I insist on unblocking my log recordings from star-date 46915.0 to 46975.7,” started Data with an assertive but high-powered tone. Sitting upright, eye-view set on his Captain, watching him sternly without a single blink. Such cold strict behaviour of the android would make any human nervous, however Captain Picard stayed calm.

“I will submit many valid arguments now,” Data continued “I am aware the events of that period might be traumatic, but I am positively affirming that I can cope well with their contents. As a Starfleet officer, I have experienced many tragical and traumatic events in my life. Our missions are often dangerous but we must withstand the stress. I do not see a reason why this incident should be different from any other tragical incidents that happened or will happen. With all respect, you have no reason to keep my private logs locked. I have the right to seek guidance in negative experiences from my past. It forms my personality and helps me to understand the life. In order to perform my duty without problems it is necessary to know the dangers from my past. I am positively affirming I am ready to face the truth and I assure you it will not have a negative effect on my duty and personality.”  
He told all that bitching without a single pause. Remarkable. No human could have managed so. ‘Cause people must also breathe between the sentences - android doesn’t.

The Captain looked exhausted, as his head ached from those endless complains.

“Mr. Data, yes, your arguments are valid,” he started slowly, massaging his temples, then closed his eyes, thinking. Few seconds later, he stopped. Then looked up directly at Data.

“You were involved in a sexual affair with one Starfleet officer. We don’t know what happened exactly, but our investigations indicate that some kind of electrical drug was applied directly in your positronic net in order to create emotions,” Captain paused to watch Data closely, but the android only gulped nervously. He was listening quietly. “After the night you spent together, that person suddenly left the Enterprise. Unfortunately, that was not the end of it. Maybe it was the drug which formed addiction, maybe it was the longing for emotions you couldn’t feel anymore - you applied an electric strike into your net, three days later. It had no effect, but caused you giant damage. We found you in a critical state and your behaviour was indicating the beginning symptoms of a cascade failure.” Those words shocked Data, eye-view set on the table now. This was far more serious than he could ever guess. “Fortunately you had some safety system activated, which guided us to lock the dangerous memories away and forget all effects of the drug.”

There was a pause, a silence heavy and dark.

“Now you know,” said the Captain sympathetically. “I am sorry, I will not enable access to your logs, nor give you any indications about that person. There is a possibility that the effects of the drug might re-appear if you start to remember. I am aware how important your memories are to you and I respect your privacy, however I will not risk your system breakdown.”

It was definitive.

Data stood up, bowed slightly. “I understand. Thank you, Captain,” he said with resignation.

...

Captain Picard watched the door closing behind Data. Then he stood up and went to the replicator: “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.”

That whole situation was complicated. The best solution for everyone was to leave that hornet's net alone. But did they had the right to keep it secret from Data? 

He sat down with his tea.  
It would be easy if the world was only black or white, good or bad. It would be easy to say Maro was an evil person who used and hurt Data with no remorse, and that was all. But it was not that simple. Everything bad aside, they loved each other. He, Jean-Luc Picard, may have giant aversion to that person now, he may think he is the worst partner Data could ever choose – but that doesn't change the fact they loved each other.

Another sip of the tea.  
No, it would be definitely better to keep what he knows for himself.  
Telling him everything was risky. He would hate to see him collapse again.  
Although...  
Maybe it was not the drug what caused Data's breakdown.  
Maybe it was his broken heart, which no one believed he actually had.


	4. / 1.04 / embrace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for part / 1.04 /: rating E for explicit sexual content.  
> Contains rough sex, but both parties want it and enjoy it.  
> Data tops and experiences the emotion of passion.

Alone in his quarters again, Data was sitting on a bed, that bead on his palm, watching it closely with an intensive gaze of his yellow eyes. The pain in his chest not so heart-breaking anymore, he was slowly overcoming that emotion.

The bead.  
That bead which belonged to the unknown woman who used to be his lover. No, he can’t blame her for what she did. It’s understandable that a human couldn’t withstand a relationship with an emotionless android. It’s understandable she wanted to make him feel. It couldn’t be her intention to hurt him so badly. It was probably just an experiment which ended as the worst possible tragedy.

And he forgives her now.

Then he layed down on his bed, his closed hand rested on his chest, keeping that little trinket. He closed his eyes. He will focus his attention to the positive facts now, and then hide this memory into the farthest depths of his database.

Initializing the dreaming subroutine...

...

A darkness. Infinite dark space. Nothing at all.  
The symbolism of his inaccessible memories.

He tried to find the slightest shadow, the smallest hint of his lover's presence. But all around him was only darkness.

Suddenly, a gentle touch in his hair.  
Fingers that went slowly through his hair like a comb, stimulating delightfully the delicate sensors of his scalp. His emotion chip reacted to this stimulation with a warm feeling of sweet compliance. It was extraordinary delightful and beautiful, the sweet compliance under the hands of his lover.  
But there was no face, no name, no image of this person at all.  
Only the feeling of the gentle, sweet caressing.  
It was not a petite woman's hand which he expected. It was bigger, masculine even, but caressed his hair with equal gentleness.

He closed his eyes to enjoy those feelings. His emotion chip shivered with a little bit of uncertainty. But he was not afraid... he was just... shy. That hand stroked his hair once again, then going lower, caressing his neck. It felt wonderful. So delightful. His body temperature rose to simulate a blush, as he evaluated with 78% accuracy the hand that touches him is a hand of a male.  
He felt the warmth of human body closer, the warmth of human breath on his lips.  
Oh god. Here comes a kiss.

His emotion chip was a mess of overwhelming feelings. Trembling perplexity made his lips press tight. Arousal made his whole body warm, to the human temperature of 37°C. A sweet belonging made him want more of those touches. With a silent moan he parted his lips to accept the kiss, coy and blushing.

Warm human lips met his own, a little bit rougher than he expected. The hand strongly gripped his nape, positioning him into a passionate, deep kiss. The other hand stroked his back, stopped on his waistline, pressed his body on the human's. As he was held in the strong embrace, pressed tight on the body of his partner, he realized it with the definite certainty: he was kissing with a man right now.  
Oh dear god. He was kissing a man. Deep tongue kissing a man.

A strong excitement run through his whole positronic net. He was doing something out of norms. Something taboo. Although homosexual relationships weren’t strictly forbidden in the Starfleet, they were often held in secret. And he was doing it now, enjoying it without regrets. He was not the perfect android anymore, programmed to do only what is expected as standard.

It was so real, real as kissing with closed eyes. That man was so gentle with him, placing kisses on his lips and cheeks tenderly, then taking his tongue again. There was no awkwardness, it didn’t matter he was an android, it didn’t matter his skin was made of bioplast. No awkwardness from Data’s side neither – he wasn’t kissing a stranger, somehow he knew that man, he trusted that man, he loved that man. A sweet emotion bloomed in his chest, beautiful and overwhelming, the tender love.

...

(I dare you. Pin me to the bed. Fuck me. Possess me. Show me how much stronger you are. Take all my sanity away. Enjoy my body as if it was all fully yours.) Challenging words without a voice. A short memory of that one night? 

They were on a bed, completely naked. A slight outline of vision went on in the dream - it was like making love during a dark night, without the light to see details and colors, yet recognizing the slight contours of his lover’s body.

The instructions of his sexual program for intercourse with male partner were clear: First, prepare his partner's anus with fingers. Only one pale finger entered that body slowly, with extreme care. Then Data realised with surprise his partner already prepared himself in advance, as his entrance was loose and his insides were slick with lube.  
(No need to be gentle with me, honey. Just fuck me. Hard and wild, that's how I like it. Don't hold back, I'm all yours.)  
No, he could never be harsh on his beloved, not even when asked to - those were the principles of his ethical program.

But then his emotion chip washed all those principles away with a furious passion.

Entering a living human body was the most amazing feeling he ever experienced. All kind of intensive emotions boiled in his chest, blending into a burning passion. It took only one single thrust, one single moan of his lover, for all those feelings to overflow. That human was his, he was lying under him with no possibility to escape, he belonged to him, his lips, his throat, his burning chest, his fast-beating heart, all of that body was only his to enjoy! Data was inside him, he was fucking him hard, every thrust making the gasping human moan louder.

Data realized his own body, his metallic skelet made of heuristic algorithms system, was much stronger than the human muscles. Much harder in comparison to human flesh. That man had absolutely no chance to escape his passion. Data could do anything to him. Under his palms, he felt the strong male muscles tense, wet with sweat. With his most sensitive hands, each having about 110 000 sensors, he was touching and groping the aroused human body under him. He could sense every single hair, every single drop of sweat, the pulsing of the living flesh, every movement of any muscle. It was fascinating.

He was buried inside that body, his hard penis penetrating inside the human, enjoying himself in the narrow walls of his anus. It felt like everything, the whole man, belonged only to Data in that moment. That man’s body, sanity, virtue, life, his whole soul belonged to him and him alone. And he didn’t hesitate a single microsecond to take it all the fullest.

His fingers tighten around the human penis, now very careful not to use too much strength, not to hurt his beloved human. He stroked it once, gently. That man was rock hard, dripping. He enjoyed very much being fucked so forcefully, didn’t he? A strong emotion of satisfaction arose in his positronic net. His partner loved this just as much as he did.

He started to thrust into him again, stroking his penis in a steady rhythm. The man’s body was leaning forward to his touches, wanting more and more. His man was gasping and moaning wonderfully with each thrust, soon trembling in his strong metallic embrace with an orgasm. The contracting living body surrounding his penis felt wonderful, bringing him to an orgasm 5 seconds after. He released himself deep into his lover and that man felt it for sure, because he moaned loudly.

As he left that body, which was lying exhausted without movement on the bed, he suddenly felt a strike of anxiety and froze for a moment. He did hurt him, didn’t he? He held him too forcefully, gripped him too strongly, didn’t he? The emotion of passion completely washed away his mind. His fast calculation analysed his grip wasn’t that strong, he might have caused him few bruises the worst. But even that was unacceptable according to Data’s ethical program. But before he could start to panic, the silhouette of the man slowly rose and looked at the android. Data froze under that intensive gaze. He couldn’t see his face in the dark, but there was something about those eyes what made him speechless.

His man leaned closer and kissed him gently on lips. It was allright. Everything was allright. His kiss was weary and his lips tasted of sweat, but he was kissing him so tenderly. He stroked Data's chest, indicating with a touch to lie on a back. Data did so.

And then, his beloved man kissed up Data’s whole bioplastic body. From head to toe, not missing a single square cm of the artificial pale skin.

Until now, Data really couldn’t process the meaning of the words “I love you”. That statement had no value for him.  
But now, under hundreds of tender kisses, he understood.

…

He opened his eyes, back to the reality in his quarters.

With one fluent movement he sat up. He was speechless. Absolutely dazed. His whole body was trembling.  
He still felt hundreds kisses lingering on his skin.

Until now, he wasn’t really sure he can truly love.  
His emotions were mere impulses from his chip, afterall.  
Until now, he wasn’t really sure anyone can truly love him.  
He was an android with inorganic body, afterall.  
But now he knew it with 100% accuracy: He loved that man and he was loved by him.


	5. / 1.05 / partners

In her time off, Deanna Troi was sitting in her quarters, drinking her favourite hot chocolate. Her gorgeous dark hair loose, her deep onyx eyes closed, as she smelled the essence of that delicious drink. She hoped to regain composure and peace while enjoying that sweet drink, but today it didn’t work as well as usual.  
  
She opened her eyes with a sigh. She was still worried about Data.  
  
She had bad regrets. What happened back then was partly her fault. It would have never happened if she didn’t think that a human is something more than an android.  
  
Don't misunderstood – of course she was fond of Data. He was dependable, sincere, attentive, hard-working… he was the perfect machine made to fit into human society. And that was the problem – in her eyes, he was an undestroyable machine without emotions.  
  
Back then, Maro was her patient. He was in deep depressions after losing his life partner, with whom he shared extremely strong bond. His death shattered Maro’s heart and world in pieces.  
  
And then, aboard of Enterprise, Maro fell in love with Data. He was watching him all the time, fascinated by the android, an obsession that covered the pain he couldn’t withstand anymore.  
  
If only Data was a human, she would be extremely cautious.  
She knew very well Maro's psychical disposition was much worse than it looked like.  
She knew very well he was afraid of an intimate relationship with an android.  
She sensed there was something dark and wrong regarding that fear.  
  
And yet she encouraged them all the time, both Maro and Data, to make a step closer.  
  
Because only a new partner could get Maro out of his depressions. The counselling sessions didn't help him much. What he needed was a hug, a lover by his side, to have sex to relax. Data could give him all of that, just without emotions. And Maro loved him, she sensed it very well, how happily his heart fluttered every time he saw the android. The only obstacle was his irrational fear.  
  
And Data? He was the perfect attentive companion, exactly the type of person Maro needed by his side. Why to be concerned? Data would probably view the whole relationship as an interesting experiment. There were no risks really - the android was many times stronger than a human, unlikely to be harmed physically. He was a machine without emotions, a machine without a heart - even if they broke apart later, it couldn't have affected him.  
  
She has never been so wrong in her life.  
  
…  
  
Although it was Data’s time off, she knew she can visit him any time – the android never sleeps.  
“Beep!” she pressed the bell of his quarters. She cannot sleep well tonight if she isn’t sure the android can cope well with that strong emotion of broken heart. The most painful emotion human can ever experience.  
“I am sorry, right now it is not a suitable time for a visit,” she heard his cold response.  
Oh god. He is not doing well at all.  
“It’s me, Troi. Please, I need to see you.”  
“Understand. You may enter, Counsellor.”  
  
She entered into his darkened quarters. A cat was running towards her to look who has arrived. The only light was going from… the bathroom. How strange, the room the android rarely used. She approached closer. She saw Data standing in front of a mirror, wearing only the pants of his uniform.  
It was the first time she has seen the android in this state of undress, because he wore his uniform literally all the time.  
It was the first time she has seen his upper body naked. Although his face was detailed and looked almost human, his body did not. Of course it had the right proportions of male human body, but it looked so… plastic and glossy. All in one shade of pale golden color, without a single wrinkle, without a single hair, a perfectly symmetric body shape of an inanimate figurine.  
  
He was looking at himself in the mirror, intensive yellow eyes watching the pale body of the reflection, his reflection watching the real pale body of his. His golden fingertips were touching ghostly his neck, then going slowly down to his collar bone. The reflection in the mirror did exactly the same. It was such intimate, surreal moment.  
As if he tried to remember touches from a dream.  
  
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then turned to her. “Only a moment, please, until I get dressed. Meanwhile, please sit down in the living area, Counsellor.”  
  
…  
  
He came a minute later, dressed in a uniform as usual, with a neutral expression as if nothing happened. He looked absolutely normal, the perfect Data she met every day. How much she wished she could read his emotions right now!  
  
He sat next to her, silently.  
  
“Counsellor, I remembered that one night,” he started slowly, looking on the floor shyly. “I was not used only as a tool for sexual desires. He loved me. It was... beautiful.” However, no matter how lovely that memory was, he realized very well it was only one piece of the puzzle. The other pieces were not nice at all, and many pieces were still missing. “Tell me about him. What was his name? The colour of his eyes? His profession?”  
  
She took a deep breath. So he is starting to remember.  
  
“No, no, Data, don’t ask that,” she shook her head in disapproval. “You are only hunting ghosts from the past. It does not matter. It’s over now, as it was over three years ago. Digging into this will only harm you more. He is not worth your attention, definitely not after what he did.”  
  
“But Counsellor, I loved him. I still love him.”  
  
It was shocking to hear such statement from the artificial lips of the android, who repeated his whole life he is ‘incapable of love’. No human could realize how much that meant to him.  
“I feel like...” he shifted his gaze from the floor, still sitting upright, his yellow eyes now gazing into infinity “I want to travel through the whole universe and find him. I need to ask him why,” he turned his head to her: “Why did he left me?”  
  
She didn't know the answer. She didn't know the whole story neither. But it was unwise to dig in this past dead affair. It could not bring anything good.  
  
“Data, your emotion chip is still calibrating, and I understand the first emotion of amorous love must be a beautiful strong experience for you,” she started carefully and Data nodded. “But what are you feeling now is a blind crush, it’s not the real love. Only two partners can create real love together. You had one night – then he hurt you and left you.”  
His chin trembled slightly and he closed his eyes, trying not to cry. “But-”  
“No buts. A real loving partner never hurts you by intention. He protects you instead. A real loving partner never runs away when a problem occurs. He stays with you to fight it. A real loving partner is not satisfied with a single night. He wants to be by your side everyday. Do you understand what I mean?”  
He nodded, his pale lips pressed tightly, still fighting the urge not to cry. Of course she was right.  
“Data, you will be a wonderful partner one day. You protect others, you face all problems bravely. You deserve someone who does the same for you. He is not worth you. The love is not limited exclusively to a single person in this universe. Give it some time, and someone else will appear, someone who is worth of your attention.”  
  
What she said was logical and as a logical creature, he had to agree with her.  
“Then I will no longer dedicate my thoughts to this matter,” he said coldly and stood up.  
He looked at her and bowed slightly. “Thank you, Counsellor.”  
  
He closed his eyes, his lips pressed tightly.  
And then, with a single program command, he disabled to think about him.  
Why to pine away? There was no point anymore.

/ chapter 1 end /  
  
.  
.  
.  
  
To be continued!  
  
Next time in LOST AND FOUND:  
**The unfortunate mission on station R.O. Adeha**  
  
Rewi'Ewis'du – a piece of mysterious ancient alien technology, which has been lost a millennium ago. There are rumours it's supposed to be hidden somewhere on a station R.O.Adeha, on the edge of Weoian solar system. Data is sent to search for it, not knowing he will find there a lot of good and bad surprises instead.


	6. / 2.01 / instructions

LOST AND FOUND  
/ chapter 2 /

**The unfortunate mission on station R.O. Adeha**

/ 2.01 / instructions

  
Meeting in the conference room.  
Top secret. The highest commanders only.

Everyone watching the monitor, awaiting the instruction for this secret mission.

An alien man appears on the monitor, older pale humanoid in brightly coloured garb, gaudily decorated with many golden geometrical accessories. Obviously a very important person.

“I, Eoin Reitol’en, the governor of sacred moon Ewis’ei, I am turning to the United Federation of Planets with the most desperate instance. Please hear out my request as lives of millions depends on your help.  
A millennium ago, people of planets Ewis’litoli and Ewis’niero lived in peace and fortune. We lived in a utopian society, filled with happiness and prosperity. All that thanks to our king Ewis, who ruled our society with the purest wisdom.  
Our king Ewis is not a mere mortal human. His body extends from the sacred moon Ewis’ei to both planets Ewis’litoli and Ewis’niero, and he used to rule our worlds rightly for hundreds of generations…”

Commander Riker leaned his head, a concentrated frown on his face. “It was a society ruled by a giant mega-computer?”

“But then, almost a millennium ago, Ewis was betrayed by his closest priest, who took away his mind. Since then, Ewis is sleeping, while his kingdom decays in chaos, misery and wars.  
We have searched for his lost mind, the Rewi'Ewis'du, for the whole millennium. It was almost impossible task, since it was hidden outside of our solar system, and only few highest priests knew the form of his sacred mind.  
Not long ago, we finally found it.  
Our last priest, Eiwo Gieloer, had found it. The revelation of Rewi'Ewis'du was paid with his very life. His last message writes he has hidden the Rewi'Ewis'du carefully into a wall on your station R.O. Adeha.  
I speak for millions people – please find it and return it to our world.  
We believe that only awakening of our king will bring us peace again.  
But! Be extremely cautious – many fear the power of our king Ewis and want to find and destroy Rewi'Ewis'du. Your search must be under top concealment, with minimum people involved. The lives of millions depend on it.”

End of message.

Captain Picard looked at everyone. “Although the Federation usually doesn’t solve problems of other worlds, the high commands decided we will make an exception this time. That… device… is hidden somewhere on our station, and it’s less risk and less problems if we find it ourselves and bring it over to them.”

He stopped in his speech and looked at Commander Data.  
“They assigned you for this mission, Mr. Data.”  
Everyone was surprised by those words, Data obviously the most. He was an officer on the Enterprise, not a personnel of R.O. Adeha. It seemed illogical to send him there.

“They have chosen you because you will be the fastest and the most efficient,” Captain explained “the problem is, the governor Reitol’en was not able to give us any description of that device, no one knows how it looks like. It shall be visible by an eye and easy to carry by one person – that’s all they know. Their technology is completely different from ours – it may look like nothing you would expect. It may be something like a little chip, hidden anywhere in the wires of walls of whole station. Only an android can evaluate with 100% accuracy anything that is not supposed to be there, only by a look.”

Although the last sentence was a praise, this time Data didn’t feel much flattered.

Riker was amused by that dubious expression of Data’s face.  
“Really? They are sending him to search for a thing that no one knows how it looks like and where it is? Good luck, Data! Definitely no human could manage that!”

“Yes, according to my calculation it will take me only 2 months 24 days 7 hours and 24 minutes to check all wiring of the station,” said Data and looked at Riker closely. “Which is 46 078% faster than if one human did it,” he emphasised.

The Captain sighed. They were right, only an android could do that. He wasn’t happy to send Data away on this mission, he will be missed on the Enterprise for so long. But orders are orders.

“They say Adeha is a nice, peaceful place. It’s a trading point located on the edge of Weoian solar system,” the Captain tried to encourage Data.

“Wait, WHAT?” Riker suddenly exclaimed “Adeha is at WEOIAN?! They are sending DATA to WEIOAN?!”  
WTF Weoians.  
Once he had an affair with a Weoian woman.  
It was the weirdest sex of his life.  
And he still hasn’t decided whether it was weird in a good or a bad meaning.  
Aside from being oddballs, Weoians were scared of technology. He still remembers that obnoxious scene she made only because she saw his combadge. Crazy incoherent screaming and jumping all over the room in panic. He can’t even imagine what would she do if she met an android!  
“That is not a good idea. Definitely. Not.”

Both Picard and Data looked surprised with that reaction. But Data didn’t wait for the explanation. He took his PADD and quickly, in mere 5 seconds, read all information about Weioan solar system and its inhabitants.

“I see the roots of your concerns,” he nodded understandingly “however I can assure you this mission will proceed without any problems.”  
He put down his PADD and looked at his colleagues to explain:  
“The planet Weoian is the third in this solar system, M type. The people of Weoian have a special psychical ability to connect their mind to inanimate objects. Their ability is very appreciated by historiographers of the whole galaxy, because they can tell the origin and authenticity of any object. They can tell a detailed history of any object, from its creation, to its owners and its usage. But this psychical ability makes them scared of technology.  
The station R.O. Adeha was built on the moon of 7th planet of this system, far away from planet Weoian. It works as a trading point with Weoians, because no space ships can go near their planet. Only once per 168 days, all Weoians fall into deep sleep and a trading ship from Adeha arrives on their planet with goods, then leaves again.  
R.O. Adeha provides a connection between Weoians and outer space. It’s a standard federation station full of modern technology, so no Weoians live there.  
There is insignificant probability I will meet a Weoian on the station. Even if I did, they would either run away or faint. They are rumoured to be the most peaceful nation of our galaxy, to extend they would rather get killed than harm anyone else.”

Riker looked at Data suspiciously, but said nothing.  
That android should rather pray for not to meet any of those crazy oddballs ever.

…

Data was packing for his leave. Only one small suitcase was all he needed.

Maybe it will be only for good to leave Enterprise for such a long period.  
Lately, it has been pretty awkward between him and Geordi, and it troubled him a lot.  
Maybe it will be the best to leave now, and after the return pretend nothing ever happened.  
Pretend his love confession never happened.

Week ago, Counsellor Troi told him: “A real loving partner protects you, fights with you against any problem, wants to be by your side every day.”  
With her words he realized he already has someone like that:  
It was Geordi.  
He never even considered a male partner as an option before, but after the discovery that he actually had a male lover and it felt wonderful, he didn’t see anything wrong about it.  
It was logical to initiate a love relationship with the person who meant the most to him.

His emotion chip made him feel so happy and quirky and excited at the thought that the two of them might become lovers!  
But then, Geordi’s reaction broke his heart again.  
It was not a mere rejection. It was a long lecture filled with illogical emotions. He accused Data he wants to destroy their friendship. He lectured him that a man must find a woman. He berated that “psychopath” who messed up Data’s mind. He screamed he can never view Data as a sexual object, it was just wrong. He finished with a sentence: “If you want to stay friends, this never happened, you get it?!!”

When he talked about it with Counsellor Troi later, she said not to feel heart-broken, that Geordi loves him and always will. As a man with heterosexual orientation, Geordi was just too scared to bring their close relationship to a next level, a sexual level. She said that the two of them were already partners, and their close friendship will definitely continue.  
Just don’t try to bring any sexual content into it.

And that was the stumbling-block.  
Although without his emotion chip he has always been a completely asexual being, it didn’t apply anymore once the chip was activated.  
He wanted to be touched. He wanted to hold someone, make her (or him) feel good. He knew he could get aroused. He wanted to have sex. How much he wished to explore this field of new experiences and emotions!

But… who would even want to date an android?

He shut his suitcase, discarding this train of thoughts.

 


	7. / 2.02 / outsider

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for part / 2.02 /: rating M for crude language.  
> (But only few words.)

Data left the transport room of station R.O. Adeha, where he will spend some time from now on because of a top secret mission. The operating personnel watched him suspiciously, it was probably the first time they saw an android. Nevermind, he was used that people stared at him.  
  
As soon as he entered the corridor, he stopped, dazed by the view from a giant window. What a beautiful landscape! The ceiling of whole corridor was completely made of see-through glass as well. He looked up in astonishment.  
He never saw a sky like that.  
  
R.O. Adeha was located on a moon orbiting a giant gaseous planet of vibrant turquoise colour. 75.6% of the sky was glowing with slowly changing shades of turquoise patterns, and the rest were shining stars. Although the landscape around was a typical breathless landscape of a moon, craters everywhere you look, the salmon-coloured ground looked mystically in combination with such sky.  
It seemed unreal like in a dream.  
  
Before his emotion chip, he had evaluated his environment only logically. Yes, he would have probably found this view uncommon, based on the chemical structures of the planet and the moon. However, nothing extraordinary, the universe was filled with abnormalities.  
  
But now his emotion chip kept him in astonishment of beauty. In the first moments, he let all his mind dive into the visual observation! It was beautiful and that view made him very happy.  
Is this how humans feel? The simple joy of living, without constant thinking and analysing?  
Maybe the emotion chip made him more human than he hoped for.  
A cheerful smile appeared on his lips. Maybe he will like it here after all.  
  
He started leisurely walking forward, enjoying the view of the slowly changing turquoise sky above.  
  
…  
  
Data was approaching the main Engineering room, where he will meet his new co-workers.  
Already in the corridor he could hear their voices:  
  
Voice 1: “What?! An inspection? Why the hell?”  
Voice 2: “This person will check the wiring of the whole station for security reasons. Commands are commands, people.”  
Voice 1: “Seems more like a harassment!”  
Voice 3: “If you did your work properly like me, you wouldn’t be afraid.”  
Voice 4: “Oh shut up! We are not some-“  
  
The door opened and Data entered the room.  
  
Suddenly, a deadly silence. 12 people were gazing at him in a complete astonishment.  
  
But he didn’t lose his composure. He stood in a proper straight pose, put a slight smile on his lips to look friendlier and then confidently introduced himself:  
“Greetings. I am Lieutenant Commander Data from the star-ship USS Enterprise E and I have been assigned to-“  
  
He couldn’t even finish it, because loud laughter interrupted him. The woman on the left started it and many others followed right after. “What the fuck! They’ve send a freaking robot?!” she was laughing so hard she was crying, holding on shoulder of one co-worker. “Holy shit this gonna be hilarious! An android on Adeha! Ahahaha!"  
  
Data felt insulted like never before and his emotion chip sky-rocket a weird mix of shame, anxiety and frustration. He gulped slowly while his smile disappeared. He has been harassed and treated with disrespect many times in his life, both before and after the emotion chip, he has been even laughed at. But never by the whole team.  
  
“SILENCE!” one person interrupted the laughter. An older man with short grey hair, obviously the chief technician. He was glaring at everyone. “This is how you welcome a LIEUTENANT COMMANDER? Teach some MANNERS!” he snapped back at everyone. However, Data noticed he did that probably only because of his ranks. He was laughing with the rest of the team before and even now he didn’t look too seriously, as his lips curled into an amused smile.  
Then he looked at Data: “I feel so sorry for you. Your assigning to Adeha is… rather unfortunate.”  
  
Data nodded slightly, but didn't have the power to ask why. All his attention went to keeping his composure, as he had to fight many anxious emotions right now. It would be the worst if he ran away with cries! He won't allow such humiliation. He was glad at least someone stuck up for him.  
“I am commander Zelow, a chief technician here on Adeha,” the man continued “I'll make the introduction short:”  
  
He pointed his hand on left, to the woman who was still choking back her laughter, trying her best not to be too loud.  
“Tina Bricker…”  
 She was a tall woman with a body of an athlete. Her brown hair was cut only few centimetres short, shaved on sides. She wiped the tears of laughter with the back of her hand, but still couldn’t stop. What was so incredibly funny on the fact that their new co-worker is an android?  
  
“…Malorie Saragosa, Henrie Dollar, Emory Bridges, Kariotta Schreiber…” the chief continued listing the co-workers one by one.  
  
“…Maronell Rowiello…”  
A man standing in the back, a hand covering his face in ultimate face-palm. His expression was somewhere between “I work with idiots” and “Kill me someone”. From the whole team he was the only one who didn’t laugh at all.  
He had a short brown hair, cut in a modern hairstyle. One earring decorated his left ear, but other than that, he looked pretty normal.  
It seemed strange that Data’s heart skipped a beat and a feeling of broken heart mixed into the already wild mixture of his emotions. It was very hard to keep a straight face right now. Only luck he already experienced a good deal of such negative feelings and learned how to control them.  
  
“…Mateo Sandel, Ludwig Marliani, Demott Hawke, Vick Stiller…”  
  
“…and the biggest joke of this whole Weirdo system: our dear Leisoi Lei!”  
Pale white skin, long dark blue hair in a ponytail, giant blue eyes.  
A Weoian woman.  
She was petite, only 154 cm, she looked like a child. She was gazing at Data with wide open mouth, her eyes going up and down, and up and down again, studying him in an absolute amazement. It looked rather comical. Very comical, actually.  
“When her brain catches on, she will either faint or want to marry you,” the chief added, now with a hint of laughter.  
  
Data felt a slight relief as he understood the laughter was not only because of him.  
She stared at him like a lunatic freak.  
  
“Mr. Data, you will work in pair according to a schedule,” the chief continued “now you may have a look around Adeha, the first shift starts tomorrow at 0200. I am sure Mr. Rowiello will gladly show you around,” he said, holding back a laughter.  
  
The man in back rolled his eyes, looked rather annoyed. “Chief, just count me out of this,” he said plainly “I am not going to work with him at all,” and with those words, he left the room in a fast pace, not even looking at Data.  
  
Everyone was confused by those words, only Tina burst in laughter again, shouting after Maro: “Oh shit, is he your ex or something?!”  
  
The feeling of broken heart stabbed Data’s chest with a painful intensity.  
This was just too much. They even refused to work with him because he is an android? Well, he doesn’t need a help from such hypocrites.  
He straightened, his face completely stiff, his voice very hard and loud now, it sounded almost terrifying.  
“I do not require your assistance at all! I am capable to do all the work completely alone, if you provide me all access codes. I assure you my mission here will be finished in no time!”  
  
Few seconds of deadly silence. His powerful voice scared everyone.  
  
Only the petite Weoian approached him in this cold freezing silence, a stupid dazed smile on her lips, and as if she just woke up from a different reality, she reached out her hand to welcome him.  
“Hello, I am Leisoi,” she said, looking at him as if he were a holy picture. “You’ve got a beautiful soul.”  
  
Data was caught by surprise by the sudden display of affection. This was the most unexpected. He looked down on her, unsure what to do.  
“I will gladly show you the most fascinating places of Adeha,” she said with a sweet smile.  
He nodded, although the movement was generated more by his emotion chip than his logical judgement. He just wanted to be out of this room!  
  
She nodded as well, a dazed friendly smile still on her lips. She went towards entrance, followed by Data. Then she suddenly stopped few steps before the door.  
“This is our most remarkable door,” she upraised her hand theatrically, as if she was pointing on a billion years old masterpiece.  
Data looked confused. That was a standard model door, absolutely mundane in every aspect.  
But Leisoi continued: “The majestic door of main Engineering room, where all technicians of Adeha gather…” but the rest of her splendid speech couldn’t be heard because of the loud laughter of the team. Oh yes. She was introducing him to a door! Typical Weoian.  
  
“I’ll go with you, before she decides to tell you the complete history of the floor tiles in the entrance hall,” said Tina with amused smile, leading him and Leisoi out of there “you could get stuck there for days just admiring the floor!”  
  
A high discomfort rose in his net, when he realised the woman who had laugh at him the most will be now his guide. But never mind, he wanted to be far away from all those mean people as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I want to say: Thank you for reading! :)
> 
> Each part takes me a lot of time to write, because my mother language is not English. I do the text correction through three different programs, to avoid grammatical mistakes (It's useful, I discovered that some words have absolutely different spelling than I expected! I sometimes make terrifying typos :D) However, I am aware I still make stylistics mistakes, sometimes use words which I am not perfectly sure about, and what makes me the saddest, I am not able to make Data speak in an elaborate speech full of terms, as he does.  
> Well, this work is not a literary masterpiece, but it made me learn a lot. I improved my English!
> 
> Although there is one global story, each chapter has completely different main style. I am experimenting with genres. First chapter was a melancholic detective story, second chapter is a loopy comedy with my weird sense of humour. But I can assure you, it won't be crazy all the time – the third chapter is robo-erotic, fourth and fifth face some controversial questions about artificial life, and there won't be space for jokes anymore. The last, sixth chapter, will be just an endearing dot after the whole story.


	8. / 2.03 / gossips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Just crude language again.

They were just few steps in the hall, going ahead, when Tina looked at Data with a cheeky smile.  
“So, tell me in all honesty,” she started, her smile going wider “Is Maro really your ex?”

He was confused. He understood that Maro was a nickname of the man who left the room, but the word ‘ex’ was a mystery.  
“I do not understand. What do you mean by the denomination ‘ex’?”  
“Your ex-boyfriend whom you dumped. That poor guy looked so heart-broken while he was leaving!” she said sarcastically, not feeling sorry at all.  
He blinked, now confused even more. “Why do you assume I had a relationship with that person?” Why would anyone assume he was in a relationship with some random man?  
“’Cause, you know…” she was surely having a lot of fun on his account right now “Maro isn’t into humans!” she winked at him playfully.  
His eyebrows furrowed, still obviously confused. “I am not sure I follow. Please be more specific.”  
Geez! That android was so blockheaded she just had to say it boldly:  
“There are some delicate rumours going around… that he has slept with about 300 androids! And given how rare you androids are, the probability you are somewhere on his list is quite high!”  
The look on his face when he finally got it was priceless. She almost died of laughter!

However, Data didn’t find this situation funny at all. Rumours were not facts, he didn’t take them seriously. But it was possible Maro really was his former boyfriend, whom he doesn’t remember. The feeling of broken heart indicated it. Initially, he assumed he felt heartbroken because of the dishonourable behaviour of everyone, but analysing this situation again now, it was also likely that it arose from his blocked memories. The thought that his former boyfriend won’t even look at him now, won’t even be with him in one room… that deeply hurt.

He felt a comforting touch of a petite hand.  
“Don’t be sad, Mr. Data,” Leisoi whispered, concerned. “I will talk to Maro. He won’t allow others to make fun of you. He is a good and brave person,” she added a sweet comforting smile.

A surprising realisation washed over him: the Weoian girl can read his emotions!  
And maybe even more - she can probably see him inside out. The feeling of being completely readable was quite uncomfortable. Now he understood why some people felt tense around Counsellor Troi.

He looked down on her, considering the risks. But she looked so innocent, smiling naively, giving him a friendly hand while everyone else was making fun of him. The encyclopedia said Weoians were the most peaceful, most pure-hearted creatures of the galaxy. It seemed so true.

“I assumed Weoians were scared of technology. How is it possible that you work on a modern station in an engineering team?” Data asked.

“’Cause she has somethin’ like supernatural powers,” Tina answered instead “Few of them can ignore the technology and not panic around it… but she’s the only one who can even… touch it! Ya know, once a time, we get here a travel tour from Weoian... they call it 'The most terrifying sightseeing tour of horrors' or somethin'... you've never seen so many crazy things happening in a single day! Once we got an application to an engineering team from this Leisoi Lei, we were like, WTF. Then she did all the entrance exams in a single day, and we were like, WTF how. She knows pretty nothing about technology, but she can talk with stuff and it tells her what to do. And you are dodging my question, is Maro your ex?”

“According to my active memory, I have seen him for the first time today,” Data replied truthfully but didn't amplify what the “active memory” means. She was not trustworthy enough.  
“What kind of person is this 'Maro'?” he added curiously. If he really were his mysterious former boyfriend, which he can't affirm or deny now, he would like to know more about him.  
  
„He is the weirdest guy on this station!“ said Tina with laughter.  
„He is the sweetest guy on this station,“ said Leisoi with lovely smile.  
Data seemed confused. So which one is it?

“Before he started to work here, Maro was a tremendous space-pirate who had a love affair with every intelligent space-ship he met!” started Tina with amusement.  
“That's not true,” corrected her Leisoi “He wasn't a pirate, he was a lone undercover agent of Starfleet. And the fact he treats machines as living beings doesn't mean he has a love affair with every computer. You also don’t date every man you meet, Tina, although you like men.”  
“True! But there are so many jokes going on about him!” laughed Tina “By the way, Leisoi, is it true that you two are in a love triangle with the food replicator on 5th floor?”  
“What? No.” answered Leisoi, bewildered.  
“Someone said they saw you and Maro repairing a replicator – you were talking about how nice its wires feel and how sexy the electricity sparkles inside... haha... they said it was awkward almost like running into a group sex!”  
“Oh. That one,” remembered Leisoi “But we didn't have sex with it, how could something so absurd even come into your mind? It was just harmless petting.”  
“Haha! Don't you say! Ahaha! I wonder why you don't date Maro yet? You two would be magnificent couple, I can tell!”  
“I sincerely love Maro, he is a wonderful man,” answered Leisoi with a sweet, dreamy smile “I even asked him out once. He said he would date me if I got a robotic arm. I said him: stop joking, I meant it seriously. He answered he meant it seriously as well. Oh well, no matter how I love him, I am not going to amputee my arm for him.”  
“What a prick! Haha!” Tina was laughing again and bumped into Data's upper arm to get his attention “Just as I told you, he isn’t into humans! When you entered the Engineering, everyone was counting seconds till he approaches you with his flirting smile, puts his hand around your hips, and leads you out of the room for the 'welcome on our station guide tour', including some 'guide tour of human sexuality' as a bonus.” She made a pause in her speech. “I wonder, why didn't he?” She looked at the android, from head to toe. “You are probably not his type. Mh. Did you ever consider a 'chest upgrade'?”  
Silence. He didn't seem to get that joke either. (Well, in reality, he did, but it was far from funny.)  
Nevermind, Tina was laughing still!

…

The tour took only about two hours. The girls showed him the most important places of station R.O.Adeha, told him a bit from the Weoian history, Tina asked him tons of inappropriate questions (like “If shit happens, can you function as an emergency battery charger?” or “What kind of computer does arouse you?”) and Leisoi had two magnificent speeches about a wall corner and about some chair.

In the end, they ended in a bar, sat the farthest seat by the window. There was a lovely view on the salmon-coloured moon landscape and the turquoise planet above.

“I'll get Maro to join us,” said Leisoi before she even sat down.  
“How? He's in pretty bad mood today, it didn't seem he wants to ‘fraternize’ with our android friend at all,” Tina wondered.  
“Oh. That will be easy,” answered Leisoi with a sweet smile. She was Maro's best friend, of course she knew all the little tricks how to push him. “I'll simply tell him how you are a mean bitch who makes fun of Mr. Data all the time and spreads lies and gossips about Maro's past. I am sure he'll be here in no time!” and then she left with a dazed smile, leaving Tina completely dumbfounded.  
“What. That little sassy Weirdo!” Tina pretended to be offended.  
Data looked at her, nodded understandingly. “Such sophisticated strategy can lead into positive results because its foundations are based upon truthful facts according to my observation from past 134 minutes.”  
Tina was thinking about the meaning of that horrendous sentence for exactly 23 seconds.  
“?!!!” Then she finally got it. “WTF! You just said I am bitch, didn’t you?!”

 


	9. / 2.04 / meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for part / 2.04 /: rating M for vulgar language and mentions of weird sexual practices.

Leisoi was away only for 8 minutes and 39 seconds, Data counted it precisely, because spending time with Tina alone was mortifying. She was exactly the kind of person who thinks that an android is just some machine with simulated character, and that it's hilarious to make jokes on its account and watch its reactions.

Leisoi's convincing strategy was obviously effective, because a man was following her. Age about 30, height about 178 cm, short brown hair in a modern hairstyle, deep brown eyes and a friendly smile. Data's heart skipped a beat again, a mixture of emotions flooded his net: hurt, anticipation, nostalgia, flutter, happiness, shyness... and something like dazed crush. Somehow, he found the smile of that man extremely charming. Which was weird, he had seen people smile at him many times before, but none of them caused such strong heart-warming feeling in his chest. The wild mixture of emotions formed one single question, occupying now fully his mind.

“I am Ensign Rowillo,” the man introduced himself, bowed slightly, then sat down. “I am sorry for my previous behaviour, Commander,” he continued, keeping this formal “I assure you I have nothing against you, I only wanted to avoid inconveniences and gossips,” and with the last word he looked at Tina closely, with a sharp edgy gaze which almost screamed I WILL KILL YOU.

But all those words didn't matter at all. There was only one question in Data's mind, and the answer was the only thing he needed. “I accept your apology, but I have one question. Please, answer sincerely. Have we ever met before?” There was a short pause. Maro looked down on table, took a deep breath, then raised his gaze again directly into Data's yellow eyes, and said clearly, maybe too much clearly: “No, never. Today is the first time we meet,” then he smiled and added more leisurely: “I am sure I would remember someone like you forever.”

A painful feeling stabbed Data's heart, leaving a weird after-taste. But he was still too inexperienced with emotions, he didn't know how it feels to be lied directly into the eyes. For a strictly logical android, a no was a no. He took it as definite. A feeling of disappointment arose in his net, but followed by relief afterwards. Maybe this was the better option, as he doesn't need to dig into the awful past now.

“How do you like the station R.O.Adeha so far, Mr. Data?” Maro asked him, trying to start a normal conversation.  
A simple question, yet Data found it hard to answer. The emotion chip got him stuck twice before he said: “Aesthetically pleasing location. Standard federation station, perfectly functional.” All he could say was pretty obvious. He wanted to kick himself for such boring answers. Yet when those beautiful brown eyes watched him, his emotion chip suddenly reduced his vocabulary and expressional functions to minimum. He didn't know why, but he could barely think. All what occupied his mind was the smile of that person in front of him, that beautiful smile which somehow made his heart flutter.  
Stupid emotion chip.  
Why must it malfunction now?

When Maro saw that the android isn’t in his talkative mood today (well, no wonder, after that ‘welcome’ in the Engineering room, no-one would be), he looked at Leisoi and started another topic:  
“So, how’s the relationship with your new boyfriend going on?”  
Tina looked surprised; she didn’t hear that news yet.  
„Ah. Kabu loves me so much,” Leisoi said with a dreamy smile. “Yesterday he asked me to become his queen. But I am not sure if I will accept that. Being only lovers is easier.“  
“Who or what the hell is Kabu?” asked Tina dumbfounded.  
Maro was watching her reaction with an amused smile. “It is a ball. A red ball. Leisoi is seriously dating a ball now!“  
„What the hell! You aren't dating that door anymore?“ Tina exclaimed with laughter, because Leisoi and the Engineering door, that was a series of stories known around the whole Adeha. A parody of a romance novel could be written about it!  
Leisoi slowly shook her head in disagreement, smiling stupidly. „Are you crazy? Why would I date a door?” she said bewildered, as if her friend was insane. “Local doors have too sliding personality and open to anyone. They won't make a good partner!“

The bartender approached their table, bringing the drinks that Maro and Leisoi ordered. Two big glasses, full of some weird-looking hot green drink. Tina and Data got their drinks already before. “What, you ordered Weoian hot apple drink? Don't you think we all should get some real alcohol?! This is a welcome party!” shouted Tina enthusiastically, ready to order vodka for everyone.  
“No,” Maro stopped her strictly. “I am not drinking with you, never ever again.”  
“Oh come on, you say that every time. You tell the best stories when you are drunk!”  
“And that's exactly why I don't like alcohol. There is a limit what my reputation can bear. And we reached that three drinking parties ago. So for me Weoian apple only, thank you.”  
The bartender left then.

Tina looked at Data. “Haha! If you wonder about all those rumours I told you today, it's his own fault,” she pointed at Maro “he should never play a truth or dare with me on drinking parties!”  
Maro looked at her with a slow, deadly gaze.  
Playing truth or dare, Tina always chose the 'dare'. And his gaze provoked her even more.  
“Yes, you've said that yourself that you've had sex with about 300 androids in your life,” she said.  
Maro took a deep breath, then put a hand over his face slowly. She really said it. And he naively thought that if he comes here, she won't spread the gossips anymore. Nooo, quite the contrary, it is funnier with him around!  
“I never said that,” he answered almost with a resignation. “I am not some heartless gigolo, what do you think of me?” he paused, looked at Data, directly into his eyes, as if he needed to justify himself: “When I date someone, that person means everything to me, and I love him and only him with my whole heart.”  
Somehow, that sentence moved Data deeply. And he was confused. Was it directed to him especially? The style of interpretation made it seem so. But why?  
“And I didn't have sex with 300 androids, that's bullshit. The question was with how many androids I played with – and since I worked in an android repairs team for quite long period of time, of course I had many androids under my hands. It was my job.”  
“Oh come on, Maro! We all know how you take your sweet time while repairing something, calling it darling this and honey that, it's almost like lovemaking!”  
“Why do I have to repeat myself? I didn’t have sex with them. My relationship to them was strictly professional,” Maro finished clearly and took a sip of his juice, hoping this conversation will be over now.  
Tina's cheeky smile went wider and wider and even wider (a bad sign!), and then she said:  
“Maro and his strictly professional approach – fucking them with dildos with piercing electricity!”  
He almost choked himself with the juice.  
“Oh shit! Fuck, I can't believe I told you shit like that!! I must have been totally trashed!” A face-palm again. That obviously took him pretty off-guard. He was blushing red, trying to cover his face in one hand, now totally speechless.

She turned her head victoriously to Data: “He said it makes an android feel pretty damn good. What do you think? Does it?”

One touchy question that should have never been asked.  
It started analysis series in Data’s head, and although it took only few seconds to process it, for an android it meant about 7 detailed simulations of erotic scenarios.

It's no doubt it would feel wonderful!

He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He glitched twice. He gulped. He looked down on the table. Only luck they couldn't see how much is he blushing (36,27 °C temperature and rising), because his skin never changed color.

Tina was amused. “I see, you would like it! Why don't you guys try it out?” she said enthusiastically. She looked at Data first: “Maro has really skilful hands... and knows lots of tricks how to heat some circuits! It will be the best sex of your life!“ then she looked at Maro: “And you would finally fuck something more interactive than a space module... It's a good deal!”

Maro didn't know what to reply. He was speechless. She was unbelievable.  
“I... I don't fuck space modules...” was all he managed to say “Tina, I... I can't believe you. How... how can you be so incredibly bold to a person you just met? Do you have no shame?”  
“Oh come on... it's just a robot! A tin-pan dummy! A thing with no feelings, you can have fun on its account as much you wish!”  
This was a pretty new level of harassment. Data even found it absolutely meaningless to correct her that he is 'an android', not 'a robot'. That was the smallest issue on her statement.

“He is not just a robot!” said Leisoi strongly.  
“He is not just a robot!” said Maro the same time. “Yes, he isn't a human and he functions differently than us, but you can't deny he is an intelligent being with own authentic will. He may have no feelings, but that doesn't give you the right to treat him as a laughingstock!”  
“Oh, come on-” she wanted to shake it off with laughter, but Maro interrupted her: “Fuck. Off. Seriously, fuck off and don't ever go near him again,” he was frowning, dead serious, looking directly into her eyes.  
The smile froze on her lips. “SORRY!!!” she stood up, offended, ready to leave. She opened her mouth, ready to have a speech how she just wanted to arrange a date for the always lonely Maro, and about how they have no sense of humour... but when she saw that seriously pissed look in Maro's eyes, she said nothing and just left them with a quick pace without another word.

Maro took his juice and drank it ex to the bottom.  
Leisoi stood up silently and went to the bar.  
And Data? He was motionless, eye-view set to his glass in front of him. For the first glance he seemed stuck, but for the second one could notice he is slightly trembling.

“I am so sorry about her... I...” started Maro embarrassedly, looking into the empty glass, he didn't even have the courage to look at the android anymore. “I promise I’ll talk with the chief... you deserve respect... you will work only with people who respect you... I promise...” he babbled.

Leisoi came back, carrying some a see-through drink - for Data. The android looked at it, but the visual scan didn’t reveal its contents. Then his emotion chip made him reach out for the glass and he drank it all without a second thought. Whatever it was, he really needs some. His emotion chip was like on a roller-coaster today!  
When he made the first gulp, the content analysis made him truly surprised – it was some kind of a cooling oil, non-drinkable for human, but extremely enjoyable for an android. It made his temperature cool down again and his emotion chip suddenly felt more at ease.

Leisoi looked at him with a comforting smile. She could read his emotions, yet she stayed so detached, respecting fully his privacy.  
“One more drink?” she asked.


	10. / 2.05 / electricity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for part / 2.05 /: rating E for explicit sexual content including sex toys.

The second day on Adeha, Data has been working almost constantly. Checking the wiring of the whole station, both with the tricorder and visually. Right now he was paired in team with Ensign Sandel, a young man who wasn't very enthusiastic for this duty.  
“We don't need to check this section, Maro was working on it last week, he does his work 'rigorously',” Sandel said, hoping they can skip it and go finally home.  
“We have to check every section, no exceptions, those are orders,” Data said automatically and started to dismount the wall cover.  
Sandel sighed deeply and whispered to himself: “...that's what the pedantic machine said.” Then he added louder, annoyed: “I don't get it, what's the point of this inspection at all? Adeha was built few years ago, it works perfectly. Or are you searching for something? Why won't you tell us?”  
“I am only following the orders,” answered Data, getting his tricorder for the checkout.  
“Aghr! That's why they sent a robot! You just follow orders without thinking...”  
Data didn't even pause in his movement. “I am an android, not a robot. And I do think during this task execution.”  
Sandel sighed – geez, just no comment. He stared to dismount the covers of the wall across.  
  
Data was working fast without a pause, not wasting a single second. One look into the wiring, one look into the tricorder, everything was alright, they could cover it again and continue on the next part.  
  
As an android, he may carry on his job with full speed and full attention, and yet think about a lot of different topics meanwhile. Right now the image of the wiring was saved in his memory. Maro did that wiring, it was perfectly organized, like a textbook example. There was a certain autograph in his work – the details of perfection. Not the littlest part was loose, the wires were organized almost in artistic manner, it was clean without a dust.  
No human cared so much for a machine like Maro did.  
  
The impulses from his emotion chip made him feel moved. Enrapt. And although his logical judgement warned him to stay away from Maro, he yearned to be touched by his caring hands, both outside and inside.  
Since the moment they met in the bar, a part of his memory was thinking about him constantly, analysing, fantasizing. Private thoughts he wouldn't share with anyone - it was the very first time he kept back erotic daydreams about someone.  
  
Erotica was a field he couldn't comprehend before, just as he couldn't comprehend humour. He might view many erotic images and videos, but nothing ever aroused him – he might have just stared into a wall with the same effect. The acts pictured in pornography never connected with pleasure in his mind. It was a simple positioning of body. It was a mundane press of skin sensor. Nothing else, nothing more.  
  
He was programmed to give pleasure to human partner, he was programmed in many lovemaking techniques.  
But it never occurred to him he could also receive the pleasure.  
It never occurred to him to play with... electricity.  
  
Electricity could be deadly dangerous to humans, but it felt delightful to androids. He knew how wonderful it felt to have electricity running on his skin – every time the operation panels were badly damaged, he was the only one who could touch them. He remembered the sparkling sensation running on his hands, causing a pleasant shivering in his sensors. His body-frame was made mostly of tripolymers, a non conductive material, the electricity couldn't go deeper. But sometimes, when his ports were opened, it went deep into him, into his processors, causing such strong pleasure it deactivated them soon. Overvoltage. For an android, that was the most accurate definition of physical pleasure.  
  
Once, during an emergency, he had to jump into an electric field, which blocked the corridor. Back then, he felt the most wonderful sensation of orgasm for the first time. In every processor, from his fingertips to insides of his endoskeleton. It short-circuited his body completely, but it was a remarkable experience. Even his detailed memory records couldn't log up properly the pleasure of that feeling.  
  
His imaginations were simulations made of those experiences and memories.  
  
...  
  
He imagined sitting on a bed, undressed, every part of his body naked and accessible.  
The lights were slightly dimmed, to an intimate level of a lover's night.  
  
Maro, or more accurately - his simulation, was there with him. He entered the room, fully dressed in uniform, the mysterious man with hypnotic brown eyes. He wore tight black rubber gloves for isolation. He held a giant dildo in one hand. It moved and vibrated, turned on. From time to time it sparkled into the night with a bright lightning.  
  
Maro approached closer, step by step, slowly. He was looking directly into Data's eyes. Right in front of him, he stopped. His gaze was eyeing the shapes of the bioplastic body. The dildo went across Data's left nipple. Its vibration on the skin sensors was pleasant. Data leaned closer to it, enjoying it, giving consent to continue. The vibrating tip went up, to his collar bone. Up to his neck, still vibrating. Data bent backward his head, exposing his neck fully. For a moment, a bright sparkle in the night, an electric shock to his skin. “Ah,” his lips parted. He felt pleasure spreading over his skin, pleasure clutching his neck, then slowly fading away.  
  
Black gloved fingers caressed his lips. They couldn't kiss, they could only touch, the isolating rubber of the gloves in-between their skins. Black gloved fingers played with his lips, then Data's tongue was kissing those fingertips.  
  
It was such a unique moment. Sexually sensual and intimate. A human and an android – how different they were, two basically disparate creatures made of diverse matter. One mechanical, completely naked, sitting on bed, enjoying the pleasures of electricity. The other organical, fully dressed, standing over him, playing with him, but the sparkling sensation could be life-threatening.  
They were doing something risky, forbidden, taboo.  
It was exciting and terrifying simultaneously.  
  
The dildo went up to his chin. Like he saw it in porn movies, he opened his mouth to lick that device lasciviously. As he was slowly licking it, it moved and vibrated on his tongue.  
“Tell me...” a voice whispered “where do you want it?”  
Their eyes met – a sensation similar to another electric shock, right into his emotion chip.  
  
He got stuck for a moment, thinking over the possibilities, not breaking the eye-contact.  
Which secret port hidden under his bioplastic skin should he open, to conduct the electricity inside? He wanted to feel intensive pleasure deep inside, he needed it under his endoskeleton.  
  
Opening the cranial ports was too risky. The ports located on his limbs might do.  
But he might also put that whole thing inside his anus, like humans do.  
Making love like a human, maybe he would feel like one – for the first time, feeling pleasure which is real, not just a simulation made by his subprogrames.  
  
But before he could voice his wish, the daydreaming subroutine crashed.  
Those acts were too dangerous to even think about.  
  
...  
  
Who said that android cannot have erotic imagination, erotic desire?  
Data himself said that. He stated that all his life – that he is an android with no feelings.  
And yet, there was one man, who made him feel, made him desire.  
  
Ever since they met here on Adeha, he was constantly analysing and re-calculating all the facts about Maro, over again and again. And he saw through his lie, with 89,35% accuracy. Maro said they never met before, but every considered aspect spoke the contrary – Maro's body language, facts about his past, his unique character, and Data's emotion chip reactions.  
  
And it was highly confusing. It made him feel ambivalent.  
According to Maro's words and actions:  
Maro loved him deeply and yet he betrayed him.  
Maro protected him of others and yet he hurt him fatally himself.  
Maro smiled at him sweetly and yet he avoided him, refusing to work in team with him.  
Data couldn't put a clear conclusion to it.  
  
His logical judgement warned him to avoid Maro – that person was dangerous, maybe even insane. Plus Maro didn't want to renew their relationship at all. To let it be was clearly the best solution.  
But his emotion chip sabotaged that intention all the time. He _needed_ to see Maro's smile. He had to fight the urge to visit his quarters and ask him out. Even a little talk in the bar would do. Even another meaningless one night stand would be agreeable.  
His emotion chip was still calibrating for the emotion of love and it was... intricate.  
  
How to decide? Which subroutines to follow?  
The logical results of his analyses? As if he was only a cold machine, the emotions in him fake and unimportant?  
His burning emotions? Humans say that decisions based only on emotions are the worst. Even humans do fight back their emotions to prioritize logic.  
  
…  
  
Walking down the main hall for his 20 min break, he had the feeling someone is watching him. It took him only few seconds to locate that person – a man was standing on the top floor, looking down at him, watching him closely.  
  
They eyes met, yellow gold met deep brown.  
  
The man just smiled at him, with a huge heartfelt smile. He waved as a greeting.  
  
Data stood there, stunned. His emotion chip burst a cascade of emotions, making his heart flutter and beat faster, feeling loved and happy. It was such a beautiful feeling – the awareness he was loved by him.  
  
But before Data could wave back, Maro closed his eyes in pain, his smile disapeared, he turned his back to him, and walked quickly away.  
  
Data was left there standing alone, wondering: Why?  
  
…  
  
The third day on Adeha, Data has been working constantly on checking the wiring again, now in some small hidden service room with Ensign Saragosa.  
  
Their silent, boring work was interrupted with a sound of explosion coming from other side of the station. The floor shook. One more explosion. Red emergency lights.  
The red alarm.  
Adeha was under attack!  
  
There was no time to think about the downfall, they were in life-threatening danger, and they had to act according to the emergency plan. Data didn't hesitate a single second, he ran to the higher floors, to help the rescue team. Once the shield and walls were destroyed, every second counted. The atmosphere of the moon was not breathable for humans, even if they were still alive, they were suffocating. The android didn't have to breathe. He was strong enough to lift any wrecks and free the human bodies underneath.  
  
The main hall was a terrible mess. You couldn't even see through the dust and smoke. He was afraid, he was terrified, yet he tried his best to ignore his emotion chip and concentrated fully on the tricorder. Two bodies were lying two meters on left, injured but alive. He has lived through similar situations many times in the simulator, to calibrate his emotion chip - but now it was real, and the sensation of fear was stronger than ever.  
He gave them oxygen and hurried to another decreasing life sign he saw on his tricorder. His hands were trembling, yet he tried his best to stay brave. He is an android, he is not as fragile as a human, he repeated to himself on a loop.  
  
A flash on the sky, another explosion, the whole station shook violently. The main supporting pillar crook with a terrific screeching noise, crashing down, and half of the main hall collapsing with it...  
  


/ chapter 2 end /  
  
.  
.  
.  
  
To be continued!  
  
Next time in LOST AND FOUND:  
**The remaining pieces of us, assembled altogether**  
  
Data lies damaged and deactivated under the ruins of collapsing R.O. Adeha. The transporters are evacuating all survivals into safe place, but unfortunately they don't scan the unconscious android as a life form. Which leaves Data's body completely abandoned on a wrecked burning station that can explode any minute. Only one person goes to search for him, although it's considered a suicide. Will he find Data in time?


	11. / 3.01 / rescue

LOST AND FOUND  
/ chapter 3 /

**The remaining pieces of us, assembled altogether**

/ 3.01 / rescue

Data felt a lightning of electric energy going through every circuit of his body.  
“Ah,” he moaned, opening his eyes.  
His switch was activated, the energy bringing life to his processors.

The very first information he realized was the length of his deactivation – it has been exactly 11 hours, 10 minutes and 23 seconds.  
The second were multiple errors coming from his endoskeleton body system. His right hand was missing. His bioplastic skin was torn off on many places. He was running low of fluids.  
The third were the memories right before the deactivation: R.O.Adeha was under attack, the main hall was crashing down. He tried to hold the main pillar in order to gain time for transportation of the few survivals into a safe place. He withstood it for long 2 minutes, but it was too heavy, and in the end it knocked him down and he fell so unfortunately his switch got struck.

“Data! Can you perceive me? Data!”  
A man with oxygen mask covering his face was holding him, looking directly into his eyes, clutching his shoulders. He wore an emergency suit, it was all dirty and even torn on few places. Only his eyes were visible through the protective mask.  
89.34 % accuracy it is Maro - Data analysed that quickly, although a human would hardly recognize him.

“Ye-yes,” was all what Data was able to say. He realized they were still in the wrecked main hall of R.O.Adeha, and his emotion chip flooded his heart with anxiety. He couldn't even speak. He looked around, it was dark, only few red emergency lights blinking on the other side of the hall, the rest of the hall were just piles of wrecks. No other living soul around, it looked terrifying. The emergency alarm echoed from far away. He looked on own shoulder, in place where his right arm should be, the emotion of fear and shock making him tremble. He couldn't feel any physical pain, not even with the emotion chip, but he was jolted.

Maro clearly noticed that something isn't right with the android, he expected him to be on his legs immediately, coldly saying: “I am fully activated now, thank you.” - or something like that. But Data was still sitting on the floor, trembling in his embrace, his head brokenly looking around, lips shivering.  
Human fingers gently brushed Data's cold cheeks, then captured his face into the palms, a thumb still caressing. The head movement stopped, now they were looking directly eyes to eyes.  
Maro said slowly and clearly, paying attention to pronunciation of each word, making sure the android understands even in case his communicative functions were in emergency mode.  
“We must run away. Immediately. Can you walk?”

The first moment after the activation, Data was so shocked he could barely think. Only after Maro's words he realized they are still in danger! He nodded and tried to get up. His legs were trapped under the ruins, but he was strong enough to get out. His clothes and his bioplastic skin was torn badly on his legs, but otherwise he was ok. His endoskeleton was much more durable than human's body.

While getting out, finally he saw his missing hand.  
It was stuck under the main pillar.

Maro noticed it too.  
“Sorry, the pillar is too heavy, I couldn't-”  
But before he finished the sentence, Data approached the wrecked pillar and even with his single hand, he tried to upraise it. It took a lot of effort, but it moved few centimetres up with terrible noise.  
Maro was standing there wide-eyed. That pillar weighted tens of tons!  
But soon he realized Data needs help to get the trapped hand out.

There was no time to examine it closely, but even with one quick glance, it was clear how bad the damage was: wires and metallic bars were sticking out of the forearm.

…

They run through the wrecks of the whole station to a space shuttle parked in docks.  
It was horrifying like a calm before the storm.  
The power generator was badly damaged.  
The whole station could explode any minute.

…

Finally sitting inside the shuttle, Maro was breathing heavily, catching his breath.  
Data didn't hesitate a second to initiate the start. Even with one hand, his working speed was incredible. They were in the air within few seconds.

“How much time till the explosion?” Data asked.

Maro chuckled among his heavy breathing.  
“It should have exploded half an hour ago...”

The highest possible speed, it is.

…

The ultra speed took only few seconds, they were on the other side of the moon immediately, only the stars around them now.

A blinding lightning from afar.  
A noise of giant explosion few seconds after.

That was tight.  
Data was sitting in his seat, watching the fading light of the explosion. Now he truly realized how close that was. He would be dead by now. Even the duranium in his body couldn't withstand such detonation.

He was gazing blankly on the sky, the light faded soon, the stars showed again.  
He couldn't even move. That shocked he was.  
It took him seconds to realize Maro is standing in front of him, without the oxygen mask now. He was touching his shoulder, shaking him, calling: “Data, answer me! I'll restart you if you won't...”

Data shifted his gaze, directly into the human eyes. “I am alright,” he breathed out “I am sorry-... it is-... the fault of my emotion chip. It seems-... I am experiencing an accident after-shock.”

Maro took a deep breath, surprised. An emotion chip?!  
No, the android wasn't acting weird because of the damage. It were his emotions making him tremble.  
“So you've got your emotion chip...” Maro repeated softly in disbelieve.

Data's body started to shake again. He moaned few cries, eyelids blinking heavily, but there were no tears falling down. He must have lost a lot of fluids with the damaged hand. It must be hard for him, feeling such strong emotion of accident after-shock.

How can I help him? Maro wondered. What to do?  
Is there some button to press, which would make him feel alright again?

With such bad damage, he looked more mechanical than usual. His right hand was still missing, the iron machinery visible on the shoulder. His pale skin was torn a bit on his forehead, on his torso near the missing hand, on both of his legs and on few places on his left hand. In places where his skin was missing, the endoskeleton was visible, flashing with little colourful lights embedded inside. Like the diode lights of a computer. His artificial yellow eyes were blinking to simulate cry, yet it looked so fake without the tears.

In this state, he reminded of a computer more than usual, yet crying with emotions, he was just like a human.  
No no, of course there is no button to stop his emotions.

Slowly, Maro sat on the android's lap, bringing him closer into gentle embrace. Data didn't resist, he didn't even move, kind of astonished and clueless. Maro caressed his hair, slowly and gently. In his left ear, he whispered: “We are safe now. Everything is alright. Majority of people on Adeha survived, they are now in a safe place, in a shelter on the planet...”  
Data closed his eyes, paying attention to the loving caressing, which made the anxiety fade away slowly. His scalp was so sensitive. If felt nice to be touched in the hair.  
“The help will arrive soon,” Maro whispered “I am sure the Starfleet knows what happened, and the help is on the way. They will find us...”  
During the sweet calming words, during the gentle caressing, he felt the warmth of the human body so close. The warmth of the embrace dissolved all fears and worries, the negative emotions fading away, and emotions of feeling loved, feeling safe, taking over. He wasn't crying and shaking anymore, but still Maro continued: “The Enterprise will come for you, they will repair any damage on your body, and everything will be alright. You will return home again.”  
Finally, Data touched Maro's shoulder. They loosened their embrace and looked directly eyes to eyes.

Only now Data noticed: Maro's pupils were dilated, he sure took many energy hypospray shots in order to stay concentrated during the search. He had black bags under his eyes of exhaustion, dryed blood in his hair.  
11 hours and 10 minutes and 23 seconds. That long he has been searching for Data.

His lips were close, only a kiss away. He remembers their taste, their sweet and rough taste. With his perfect memory, he remembers it so clearly as if it was a moment ago.

While watching his lips, he noticed a necklace Maro was wearing. A necklace he didn't wear before.  
His dirty emergency suit was unzipped, showing his uniform and a necklace under it.  
It was a simple metallic wire, two beads on sides.  
The same beads he found in his room.  
And in-between the beads, a bunch of small computer components, burned and crooked out of shape.  
The same components his body uses.  
Components made of durable material, made to withstand extremely high temperatures.  
Burned black and melted, crooked out of their shape.


	12. / 3.02 / reasons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry for the late updates, life has been pretty busy lately. But I will finish this story, it's my big resolution!

A moon made of salmon-coloured sand.  
Somewhere on its surface, a lone space shuttle, sitting silently in its crater.  
Stars of the infinite universe shining on the sky. On the right side of the heaven, hem of a giant gaseous planet was visible, charming with changing patterns of turquoise colours.

Inside of the small shuttle, two persons:  
In the right seat, a human man sitting, wearing a Starfleet uniform, exhausted.  
In the left seat, an android sitting, his uniform and skin dirty and torn on many places. The little lights embedded in his mechanical body were blinking in the darkness, mirroring on the glass of the shuttle windscreen, shining brighter than all stars of the sky.

The shuttle was running in the emergency mode, it had enough energy to keep oxygen and heating only for another 27 hours. The escape has been too close. They burned all fuel for the ultra speed. They could only hope someone will find and save them in time.

Data was sitting motionless, his eyes silently watching the human companion.  
The man’s leg was cut in the calf, bandaged. Who knows, how many bruises does he have? He looked terrible, hurt and exhausted. He has been searching for him through the burning ruins alone for more than 11 hours.  
The act of a brave hero, who wants to rescue his friend?  
Barely. It was an act of a madman.  
To continue the search even after the explosion countdown was a pure suicide.

“The probability we survive after the countdown was basically zero,” stated Data into the silence. There had to be an error in the measuring instruments. “Why did you keep searching for me?”  
There was no chance according to statistics, Maro should save at least his own life.

Sitting in the other seat, eyes closed, Maro looked like he was sleeping. His body hurt and he felt exhausted, yet he couldn’t fall asleep because of the many energy shots he took.  
The question cut the silence, he opened his eyes.  
He saw the damaged android, little lights blinking on his endoskeleton where the pale golden skin was missing, mirroring on the windscreen.  
His light was more gorgeous than all stars of the universe outside.  
That's why, Data. You are more worth to me than all the world.  
Maro chuckled. No, he can't tell him that.

“Many years ago,” he started silently his story “I had a... soulmate. Together, only me and him, we travelled through the whole galaxy, working undercover for the Starfleet. Every morning, I woke up hearing his voice, every single day I lived with his presence nearby, every night I fell asleep hearing his Goodnight. He changed my world, he helped me become a better person, a bit day by day.”

That soulmate was a spaceship, an artificial intelligence - yet to him more than a best friend.

“During one mission, he died, I survived. That day was so similar of today – a burning station under attack, no-one knew what was going on and why. He killed the enemy, in exchange of his own life. And I was left alone, on the burning wrecked station, I couldn't do anything but watch the explosions on the sky...” Maro had to close his eyes, holding back the tears. He remembers that image, that feeling, as if it was yesterday. It felt like his own heart exploded with the sky.

“How much I wished... I wished I died that day with him. I couldn't go on any more, for weeks, for months... the nightmares repeated every single night, and every single day I was over-thinking my actions, searching for the littlest possibility what I could have done differently. God, I would do ANYTHING to save him!”

He opened his eyes again, now looked at the android, who was attentively listening.  
It was Data who filled that giant hole in his heart. They might be separated for years, Data might not remember anything about their affair, but... every time Maro looks at the sky, he thinks of the beautiful golden android, who travels in a spaceship somewhere among the stars. Made of cold bioplast, pale mechanical doll with artificial yellow eyes, yet the kindest and sweetest being, fascinated in discovering the world, discovering the arts of life, discovering own humanity.  
They haven’t seen each other for years, but he still kept the memory of Data as a treasure in his heart. 

Data tilted his head. So Maro would rather die than miss the smallest chance to save his beloved. After hearing his story, that was logical.  
“I am grateful for your rescue, I would not survive otherwise,” he said, then turned his head away to look ahead, gazing into the infinite space “If you risked your life to save me now, then why did you hurt, betrayed and abandoned me in the past?” A direct question, sharp like an arrow.

Maro took a deep breath. That was a clear shot in the heart.  
“You... you remember?” he faltered “Your Captain said... you forgot everything...”  
That was an unexpected change of facts. It caught him pretty off guard.

Data was still gazing into infinity, fighting against his emotion chip. How hard he tried to act cold and indifferent! He couldn't even look at Maro, or he would lose the battle with his emotions.  
“I do not remember everything, only fragments and indications,” the android said coldly.

Maro sighed, thinking about the answer. They both could have died half an hour ago, and who knows if the rescue will arrive in time... this pretend play is stupid and meaningless, anyway.  
“I am very sorry about what happened,” Maro started slowly, looked at the android, who was still gazing into space, motionless. “The words can't express how much I am. What happened was entirely my fault, and no argument is good enough to excuse it. When we first met... it was right after that accident. I was a mess, I lived days in depressions and nights in nightmares... Honestly? If I haven’t met you, I would either go mad or kill myself.”

A pause.  
But Data didn’t even move.

“I fell in love with you,” said Maro softly,  
“I never, never ever again wanted to start an affair with an android. What was a point of loving someone who can’t love me back? Someone who feels nothing at all? It was meaningless. Like my whole life was meaningless. I didn’t see a tiny bit of hope – one evening I got terribly drunk, took strong sleeping pills in the night, and pain killers in the morning. I couldn't think clearly, I didn’t care about anything, drugged into apathy. And then, suddenly you came to me and you said:  
‘Please, make me feel. If only once in my life, I want to feel love…’”

Data widened his eyes in disbelieve and finally looked at Maro. Was that true? Was that really him, who started that affair? It seemed unbelievable. Without his emotion chip, he has never been interested in romance, it was always the other side who initiated it.  
But what if Maro knew how to make an android feel? Back then, Data would do anything to feel emotions. What Maro said was likely indeed.

Maro sighed heavily, not wanting to continue. But Data deserves it. He deserves the whole story.  
“Indeed, I knew a method, how to make an android feel,” he started slowly, now obviously nervous, looking down on the floor.  
A very cruel method, how to make an android feel.  
“It was all or nothing. In my apathy, I somehow hoped it could teach you how to simulate emotions. You are… the most advanced and complicated android I have ever met… so I hoped… that if I made you feel once, you would be able to simulate the feelings anytime again.”

Five seconds of silence.

“I lost the bet. In order to make you feel love for one night, I damaged you heavily. It was… even worse than I estimated. I was frightened of myself. I was a monster, doing something so cruel to you! In the terrible psychical state I was, all I could think about was running away… I was such an idiot! On my runaway, I almost went crazy worrying about you, and three days later, I contacted the Enterprise… but it was too late.”  
Finally he could breath out, the most terrible part of the story was over.  
“I had a long unpleasant talk with your Captain. He said you lost your memory after a breakout, and that he doesn’t want to see me ever again aboard the Enterprise or anywhere near you. It was over. And he was right –“ now he finally looked at the android, directly into his yellow eyes “he was right, a person like me should never be near you. My words can’t express how much sorry I am for making you feel that night.”

Data’s face expression showed clearly how sad and heart-broken he felt. Maro was sorry for that night? For that one wonderful night filled with passion and tender love, that single night in Data’s life, when he felt equal the human. “But-“ Data stuttered “you showed me the most beautiful feelings. You offered me all of your body. You kissed me from head to toe and made me feel loved. It was the most beautiful sensation I have ever experienced,” he said softly, still holding a little hope, that for Maro it was just as wonderful.

Maro had to laugh. And it was not laughter full of happiness, but laughter full of sarcasm.  
“That’s all what you remember? The selectivity of your memory amazes me.”  
Confusion showed on Data’s face.  
With sad gaze in his eyes, Maro explained:  
“You don’t remember what happened before and after that, don’t you?”  
“No, I do not. What happened?”  
Maro looked away. “Be grateful you don’t,” he whispered. “It’s better that way. I saved your life today, but it was only a little reimbursement for how terribly I hurt you back then. You don’t owe me anything in exchange. I don’t even deserve your forgiveness.”

Data tilted his head, sad expression on his face, observing the man sitting next to him. Maro looked sorrowful, hurt both physically and psychically. Data’s fast mind was calculating, considering all facts. Maro was not a bad person. He was a sensitive man with one passionate heart, who would do anything for his beloved. Anything. Even crossing the borders of taboos. Even risking own life and hurting himself. Was it true that all his past lovers were machines? Those who can never return a feeling, no matter how passionately he loves them.  
Poor Maro.

Data wanted to reach out his right hand towards Maro, but a cry escaped his lips instead. His right hand was not there, and that feeling caused strong anxiety in his emotion chip. Feeling incomplete, a cripple. A painful expression clouded his face, but he didn’t give up. Instead his left hand, although farther away, reached out towards Maro, touching gently his shoulder.  
“I forgive you.”

Maro froze. That touch. An android touching him. A machine touching him gently by its own will.  
The most intoxicating feeling.  
“If you had your memories, you would never say that,” he whispered, still motionless, feeling his heartbeat rise, as that cold hand caressed his shoulder.

“It does not matter,” said the android “the past cannot be changed. I forgive you and you should forgive yourself as well,” and then, he added a small comforting smile.

Maro was watching him, astonished. That soft smile looked so charming on Data’s face. In the gloom, his blinking lights were gorgeous. No matter how hurt he has been, Data was always the kindest, sweetest person.

One more soft, gentle stroke of the cold bioplastical hand.  
Maro couldn’t bear it anymore.  
He rose up quickly from his seat, getting away from that hand’s reach. He hurried somewhere to the back of the shuttle, muttering something about the damaged right hand.

And Data sat there alone, hand reached out into space where Maro sat a moment ago.  
Once, that human was his, that man’s whole body, sanity, soul, belonged to Data.  
But now, he is not even allowed to touch his shoulder.


End file.
